Arsenal v Liverpool
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain left Arsenal in the summer complaining of lack of regular football and also the fact that he is usually played on the right wing instead of his favoured centre midfield position. He joined Liverpool, six months down the line, he still does not play regular football and when he does get to play, he still does play on the right wing!! So what has changed, you may wonder?
Anyway, the Ox returns to the Emirates today with his new club Liverpool, to face his old club Arsenal. There will definitely be a few boos from the Arsenal crowd. Woe betide him if he does not start the game and is left on the bench. But if he does start, it will be a great test for his character. If he lets the boos get to him and he underperforms, he will need some further character building. He may need to go into himself and dig deeper. However, if he sees the boos as what they actually are — compliments — and he feeds on that to produce the performance of his life, then it will be the making of him. If a player leaves a club in a controversial manner, his return is always very interesting. The amount of hatred the guy receives from the home crowd is always judged by how much they miss him, how much loss they feel he is to their club. So, Alex O should be happy if Arsenal fans bring down the roof to boo him, it shows they still love him and wish he was still with them. But if they are indifferent to him, he should realise they see him as good riddance to bad rubbish.
I see a cagey match. The last time the two clubs met, Arsene Wenger was taught a lesson in modern day football. Practically all the four goals Liverpool scored came from an Arsenal attack. Jorgen Klopp’s boys invited the Gunners to attack them and then hit them on the counter. Surely history won’t repeat itself at the Emirates. Surely not even Wenger will be that naïve as per to give the Fab Four from Liverpool a second chance to hurt him with their pace. That is why I believe this game won’t be gung-ho the way the previous one was. This is likely to be a draw, that is if Wenger gets his tactics right. Liverpool won’t change the way they play, they don’t have to. They are playing away from home and will be comfortable to let you attack so they can hit you on the counter.
Everton v Chelsea
Five weeks ago, we would have already chalked this as three more points for Chelsea. But ever since Sam Allardyce took over at Goodison Park, things have become a tad different. He has made the team a lot harder to beat, actually, they have not lost a game in the Premiership since he took over. The only club that hava managed to escape defeat have been the old enemy, Liverpool and that was even at Anfield.
Chelsea are a formidable team. If their manager can stop his childish political games and concentrate on his job, I actually see them as the only club capable of giving Manchester City a run for their money. Big Sam usually organises his teams to bully and overpower opposing players but when you look at the Chelsea players you probably think the only players who can be bullied are Fabregas and Pedro. This game may prove too hot for Everton to handle, it may be their first loss under Sam Allardyce, but I have learnt never to underestimate the big former Bolton manager. He always has an ace or two up his sleeves.
Leicester v Manchester United
The two clubs lost their mid-week League Cup games. While it was understandable that Leicester City lost to league leaders and high flying Manchester City, it was a shock to see a star-studded Manchester United lose to Championship side Bristol City. Now, we all know he can’t win the Premiership this season, we know the club are out of the League Cup, so it now appears Mourinho will have to win the Champions League this season, otherwise this may turn out to be a worse season than the last, despite the fact that United spent almost 200m pounds in the summer, to improve the team. Claude Puel does not have any new major injuries, with Matty James and Robert Huth out for a while. However, United’s defensive options are getting limited by the day. Stand in captain, Antonio Valencia will miss this match due to hamstring injury, Marouane Fellaini is doubtful with knee injury while Michael Carrick and Eric Bailly are long term absentees. While the Foxes are high in confidence despite the fact that they lost in midweek, the Reds don’t seem to have gotten over the home defeat to local rivals Manchester City. Somehow, I see Leicester winning this one. It seems Mourinho has lost his mojo this season or maybe he is bored already and needs a new challenge. It can be pardoned if you park the bus against Liverpool and City, but against West Brom? Come on.
Manchester City v Bournemouth
You don’t need a TB Joshua to tell you the outcome of this game. This definitely is another free three points for Pep and the City boys. What we can be arguing about now is how many goals City will score or if Aguero will score before Gabriel Jesus!!!This is why I hate some of football rules, you have to complete the whole 90 minutes even if your opponents has been hit with nine goals and has no way of recovering. If it was boxing, the referee would have stopped the game when it was about 5-0, in fact, if this was boxing, the referee would have stopped the whole season the day City beat United at Old Trafford, nobody can catch them now. I see a long night coming for Bournemouth players and their fans in this one.
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